Mr Cameron took the unusual step of insisting that neither he, his wife or children receive any benefit from an offshore company set up in Panama by his late father Ian, which paid no tax in Britain for 30 years.

The Telegraph has established that Ian Cameron’s firm Blairmore Holdings Inc was moved to Ireland in 2010 - the year David Cameron became Prime Minister.

A source close to Blairmore Holdings - which is still operating with assets of £35 million – said the company had been moved because its directors believed it was about to “come under more scrutiny”.

Details of Ian Cameron’s offshore business interests were revealed in the so-called Panama Papers – a leak of 11.5 million documents from the Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca - which claimed their first major scalp on Tuesday with the resignation of Iceland’s Prime Minister.

Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, stood down following the biggest popular protests in the country’s history, which saw 10,000 demonstrators amass outside the country’s parliament building to demand his head after he was accused of concealing millions of pounds offshore.

It also emerged that Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France’s far-right Front National, and several aides of his daughter, the party’s current leader Marine, were accused of hiding more than a million pounds offshore.

Mr Cameron was pulled into the scandal on Monday after details of Ian Cameron’s offshore details were published. The disclosures were potentially embarrassing for Mr Cameron because he has previously made statements condemning tax reduction schemes.

The Prime Minister’s initial response had been to insist that his tax affairs were a “private matter” but after 24 hours of confusion and criticism Mr Cameron caved in to pressure, saying: “In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares. I have a salary as Prime Minister and I have some savings, which I get some interest from and I have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out while we are living in Downing Street and that’s all I have.

“I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. And, so that, I think, is a very clear description.”

The carefully-worded comments made no reference to whether he or close family members had benefited in the past or stand to benefit in future from Blairmore.

According to files shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Infantino co-signed a contract with a company owned by Hugo Jinkis – who was indicted in the United States in May as part of an alleged £100 million fraud – while working for Uefa.

European football’s governing body last year declared it had no dealings with those involved in the scandal to have engulfed Fifa, which also previously said the same about Infantino personally.

Although there is no evidence of any wrongdoing in the awarding of the contract signed by the Swiss, Fifa and Uefa’s prior denials make Tuesday's revelation an embarrassment for both him and them.

The Panama Papers show that, a decade ago, when Infantino was director of legal services at Uefa, the organisation sold the rights for broadcasting its club competitions – including the Champions League – in South America to an Argentinian company called Cross Trading.

Cross Trading, which immediately sold the rights on to broadcaster Teleamazonas for about three or four times the amount paid, is a subsidiary of a company called Full Play.

Full Play is owned by Jinkis, who along with his son Mariano, is under house arrest in Argentina.

Having checked through thousands of contracts, Uefa also confirmed that in addition to two it agreed with Cross Trading, it had also signed a European Championship hospitality sales agreement with Traffic Sports Europe, a Brazilian company named extensively in the US indictment.

It denied any wrongdoing by any of its officials and said all its contracts were above board.

In a statement, Mr Infantino said on Tuesday night: "I am dismayed and will not accept that my integrity is being doubted by certain areas of the media, especially given that UEFA has already disclosed in detail all facts regarding these contracts.

"From the moment I was made aware of the latest media enquiries on the matter, I immediately contacted UEFA to seek clarity. I did this because I am no longer with UEFA, and it is they who exclusively possess all contractual information relating to this query.

"In the meantime, UEFA has announced that it has been conducting a review of its numerous commercial contracts and has answered extensively all media questions related to these specific contracts.

"As I previously stated, I never personally dealt with Cross Trading nor their owners as the tender process was conducted by Team Marketing on behalf of UEFA.

"I would like to state for the record that neither UEFA nor I have ever been contacted by any authorities in relation to these particular contracts.

"Moreover, as media themselves report, there is no indication whatsoever for any wrongdoings from neither UEFA nor myself in this matter."

Panama mulls retaliation as France looks to put it on 'tax haven' list

Panama's government has said it is considering retaliating against France if it makes good on its announcement to put the Central American nation back on a "tax haven" list following the "Panama Papers" revelations.

"In Panama, there is a law that sets out retaliation measures against countries that include Panama in 'gray lists'," Alvaro Aleman, the minister for the presidency, equivalent to the post of prime minister, told a news conference.

Profile: Former Icelandic PM Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson

Scandal, protests and a resignation in Iceland

The Panama Papers claimed their first political scalp on Tuesday when Iceland’s prime minister resigned amid claims that he concealed millions of dollars in an offshore company.

Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, who became prime minister in 2013, had been the target of the biggest popular protests in Iceland's history.

After the Panama Papers were leaked, at least 10,000 demonstrators massed outside parliament in the capital, Reykjavik, to demand his resignation. An online petition calling for him to go amassed 29,000 signatures.

Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson (C) talks to media outside the residence of Iceland's President President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson after a meeting of the twoCredit:
POR HARDARSON/EPA/BIRGIR

Faced with protests and a petition joined by almost 10 per cent of Iceland’s 330,000 people, Mr Gunnlaugsson tried to play for time and defend his position by asking for early elections and the dissolution of parliament. But the country’s president rejected this request on Tuesday, prompting Mr Gunnlaugsson’s own Progressive Party to remove him from office.

“The prime minister told the parliamentary group meeting that he would step down,” said Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, the Progressive Party’s deputy leader. Mr Johannsson is expected to be sworn in as Iceland’s new prime minister.

The Panama Papers placed Mr Gunnlaugsson under pressure because they apparently showed that he and his wife jointly owned an offshore firm called Wintris. He had failed to declare this interest when he was first elected to parliament in 2009.

People gather to demonstrate against Iceland's prime minister, in ReykjavikCredit:
Brynjar Gunnarsson/AP

Eight months later, Mr Gunnlaugsson sold his 50 per cent stake in Wintris to his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, for the symbolic sum of $1 (70p). This offshore company was allegedly used to conceal and invest millions of dollars.

Wintris also bought bonds from three of the Icelandic banks which collapsed during the financial crisis in 2008. As prime minister, Mr Gunnlaugsson was involved in negotiations to save the banks – without declaring his apparent financial interest.

Mr Gunnlaugsson says that no rules were broken and he was not obliged to declare this interest when he entered parliament

Barack Obama speaks out on Panama Papers

Barack Obama has said the Panama Papers are a reminder that "tax avoidance is a big global problem".

"A lot of it's legal, but that's exactly the problem. It's not that they're breaking the laws it's that the laws are so poorly designed that they allow people if they've got enough lawyers and enough accountants to wiggle out of responsibilities that ordinary citizens are having to abide by," he said from the White House.

David Cameron denies family has offshore funds

Peter Dominiczak, political editor, reports that David Cameron has now been forced to deny that he or any member of his family benefits from any offshore funds.

Prime Minister David CameronCredit:
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

A No 10 spokesperson said: “To be clear, the Prime Minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds. “The Prime Minister owns no shares. “As has been previously reported, Mrs Cameron owns a small number of shares connected to her father’s land, which she declares on her tax return.”

Panama Papers scandal claims first political casualty

The Progressive Party of Iceland has confirmed that Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, its leader and the country's prime minister, has resigned.

His successor has already been named as the party's deputy leader.

"The prime minister told his party's parliamentary group meeting that he would step down as prime minister and I will take over," Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, the Progressive party's deputy leader and Agriculture Minister, said on a live broadcast.

Edward Snowden mocks David Cameron over privacy interests

Edward Snowden, who revealed vast quantities of CIA data that revealed details about US and UK surveillance programmes, tweeted "Oh, now he's interested in privacy" in response to a news story on the Prime Minister's spokesperson insisting family finances were a "private matter". David Cameron previously criticised Snowden for leaking private data.

Downing Street responds to Panama Papers

David Cameron’s spokesperson has said his father’s alleged links with offshore accounts revealed in a huge leak are a “private matter”, reports The Independent. His spokesperson responded to a question about whether the Prime Minister’s family was still holding money in offshore arrangements by saying : “That is a private matter, I am focused on what the Government is doing.”

David Cameron refuses to say if family benefits from an off-shore fund

David Cameron has left open the possibility his family still benefits from an off-shore fund in the Bahamas run by his father in his first public response to the Panama Papers leak, reports Ben Riley-Smith.

The Prime Minister said he had "no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds" but did not directly respond to whether anyone in his family could still benefit from an arrangement set up by his father.

The Prime Minister also appeared to reject calls by Jeremy Corbyn for an independent investigation to the leak by saying HMRC should look at the documents. The Panama Papers leak has revealed that Mr Cameron's father ran an offshore fund which avoided ever paying UK tax by hiring a small groups of Bahamas residents - including a part-time bishop - to sign paperwork.

Ian Cameron, who died in 2010, was a director of Blairmore Holdings Inc, which, until 2006, used unregistered "bearer shares" to protect its clients' privacy.

Addressing staff from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in central Birmingham during a pre-arranged Q&A session on the EU referendum, Mr Cameron was asked about his links to the fund.

He was asked: "The Leader of the Opposition's called for an investigation into your tax affairs for your own interests. Can you clarify for the record that you and your family have not derived any benefit in the past or will not in the future from the offshore Blairmore Holdings fund mentioned in the Panama Papers?"

Mr Cameron responded: "The investigation we need, first of all, is for HMRC, our tax authority, to use all the information that is coming out of Panama to make sure that everything's done, to make sure that companies and individuals are paying their taxes properly."

On links to the fund, Mr Cameron said: "In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares. I have a salary as prime minister and I have some savings, which I get some interest from and I have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out while we are living in Downing Street and that’s all I have.

“I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. And, so that, I think, is a very clear description.”

The comments made no reference to whether close family members stand to benefit from Blairmore Holdings Inc.

Video: David Cameron on Panama papers

David Cameron was asked whether he or his family have gained financially or will benefit in the future from an off shore fund linked to his father, who died in 2010, at a Q & A session in Birmingham, ostensibly about the EU referendum.

French finance ministry: Panama to return to list of tax havens

France will put Panama back on its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions, its finance minister said on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

"Panama is a country that wanted us to believe that it could respect the main international tax principles and thus it was taken off the tax haven blacklist," Michel Sapin told lawmakers in a question and answer session in parliament.

"France has decided to add Panama back on the list of uncooperative countries with all of the consequences that that will have for those who have dealings with Panama," he added.

Iceland's president refuses permission to dissolve parliament over crisis

Iceland's prime minister on Tuesday asked the president for permission to dissolve parliament as his government reeled from a political crisis over the so-called Panama Papers, but the president refused.

President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who cut short a visit to the US to return to Reykjavik earlier on Tuesday to deal with the crisis, told a televised press conference he wanted to consult the government's junior coalition member before making a decision.

Iceland's PM threatens to dissolve parliament over Panama Papers link

Iceland's prime minister has threatened to dissolve parliament and call new elections if he were to lose the support of his junior coalition partner following an uproar over his offshore holdings revealed in the "Panama Papers".

Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson Credit:
AFP

"I told the leader of the Independence Party that if the party's parliamentarians think they can not support the government in completing joint tasks, I would dissolve parliament and call a general election," Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson wrote on his Facebook page.

Oxfam throws down the gauntlet for David Cameron

Oxfam is calling on the Prime Minister to intervene to clean up Britain’s "dirty offshore backyard" after the Panama Papers revealed that UK-linked tax havens, in particular the British Virgin Islands, were used to register more than half of the companies involved in the leak.

Oxfam's five demands

Now the charity has set out five steps it wants David Cameron to take to put the UK’s house in order before he hosts an international tax and anti-corruption summit in London on May 12.

Crackdown on tax-dodging with reforms to global tax rules so that all countries, including the poorest, benefit from changes

Require senior representatives from the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to attend the summit and to introduce public registries of the beneficial owners of shell companies in their jurisdictions

Immediately announce that the UK will spearhead international efforts to make companies publish the amounts of money they hold in tax havens

Ensure that poor countries are supported to attend the summit so they can testify to the impact of tax avoidance on their fight against poverty

Mandate an independent public review of the functioning and operations of the City of London Corporation, which can be seen as having many qualities of a tax haven

Carol Vorderman tells Cameron he is a 'hypocrite'

Carol Vorderman, the former Countdown star, has labelled David Cameron a “hypocrite”, telling her Twitter followers that the issue about the PM's family tax affairs certainly was “not a private matter”.

Investigation must be launched into David Cameron's family tax affairs, says Jeremy Corbyn

An independent investigation must be held into the tax affairs of those implicated in the Panama Papers data leak, including David Cameron's family, Jeremy Corbyn has demanded.

The Labour leader said the leaks had exposed tax avoidance on an "industrial scale".

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, speaks as he launches Labour's official local election campaign in HarlowCredit:
PA

Downing Street has insisted that the business affairs of Mr Cameron's late father Ian, which were detailed in the Panama leak, were a private matter.

But Mr Corbyn told reporters in Harlow: "It's a private matter in so far as it's a privately held interest, but it's not a private matter if tax has not been paid.

"So an investigation must take place, an independent investigation."

Mr Corbyn said: "I think the Prime Minister, in his own interest, should tell us exactly what's been going on."

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, speaks as he launches Labour's official local election campaign in HarlowCredit:
PA

Speaking at Labour's local election launch event, he told reporters he wanted an investigation conducted by HM Revenue and Customs "about the amount of money of all people that have invested in these shell companies or put money into tax havens and to calculate what tax they should have paid over the years".

Asked whether the PM should resign if he is found to have benefited, Mr Corbyn said: "Let's take one thing at a time. We need openness, we need an examination, we need a decision after that."

Jeremy Corbyn meets customers in a Harlow cafeCredit:
PA

Pressed on whether he would publish his own tax return, Mr Corbyn said: "There is no problem with my tax affairs, they are very, very limited indeed. I have got an income as an MP, sadly I have got no family trusts of any sort."

The Labour leader also suggested the Government could intervene to take direct control of the UK's offshore tax havens.

"If it's necessary for ministers to intervene because the governments of the Overseas Territories won't act, they can use an order in council to take control of them immediately," he said.

Litigants 'will be clamouring at the gates' to get access to Panama Papers

“The release of this data won’t just be inspiring interest from journalists and public authorities. Civil litigants around the world chasing down assets in respect of their civil claims will be clamouring at the gates of the 107 organisations who are purportedly in possession of the documents. Our litigators will have some late nights in the coming weeks. The name of Mossack Fonseca is a familiar one to many.”

Lunchtime summary

David Cameron must "lead by example" and "set the record straight" on his own tax affairs, Labour has demanded the following the Panama Papers leak.

There should be an independent investigation into the tax affairs of all Britons linked to the Panama Papers, including David Cameron's family, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded in a speech earlier today.

Downing Street has refused to disclose whether the Cameron family still has funds in offshore investments after claims emerged about the tax arrangements of the Prime Minister's late father, Ian Cameron, insisting it is a "private matter".

But Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General and senior Conservative MP, warned Mr Cameron that there was a "need for transparency" for public figures such as the Prime Minister.

The leaked documents also include details about the tax affairs of Conservative donors, according to the Guardian, which has seen the records.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: "The Prime Minister should lead by example and come out and set the record straight on his own tax affairs - we need full and total transparency.

"We also need to know the truth behind reports that the Conservative Party has received substantial donations from those linked to this scandal. The Tories should come clean and set out exactly what the situation is - is the Prime Minister happy to receive money from big donors who are accused of tax avoidance?

"Because it is those taxpayers who pay their fair share in taxes who have to shoulder the burden for those who do not. This is a basic principle that any party of government cannot take lightly."

Mr Cameron's father ran an offshore fund which avoided ever having to pay tax in Britain by hiring a small army of Bahamas residents - including a part-time bishop - to sign its paperwork, according to the Guardian.

Ian Cameron embraces his son David in 2010

Ian Cameron, who died in 2010, was a director of Blairmore Holdings Inc, which, until 2006, used unregistered "bearer shares" to protects its clients' privacy.

His use of the firm to help shield investments from UK tax helped build up a significant legacy, part of which was inherited by the Prime Minister.

There is no suggestion that this avoidance arrangement or others exposed by the leak were anything but entirely legal or that Mr Cameron's family did not pay the UK tax due on any repatriated assets.

Spotlight thrown onto Siemens bribery scandals

The Panama papers allegedly show former Siemens managers may have kept hundreds of millions of dollars left in slush funds from the bribery scandals of the 2000s, reports Justin Huggler, in Berlin.

The leaked Mossack-Fonseca documents show that one former Siemens manager held $480m of gold in a Bahamas account in 2013, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung, the German newspaper which first uncovered the papers.

SiemensCredit:
AFP

The manager in question was found guilty of handling company slush funds by a German court in 2012 but got off with a relatively small fine on the grounds he had not personally paid any bribes and had returned the money, according to the newspaper.

The Panama papers indicate he is one of several former Siemens managers holding extraordinary sums in offshore accounts, the report alleges.

The claim comes as it emerged that 28 German banks are named as facilitators in the Panama papers.

While no German politicians and celebrities have so far been implicated in the scandal, many private German citizens are, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The newspaper also claims a well-known German private detective is named in the papers.

Labour asks Cameron if he is happy to receive donations from people linked to Panama Papers scandal

John McDonnell, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to the reports today linking the Conservative Party and the ‘Panama Papers’, said:

John McDonnell, the Shadow ChancellorCredit:
Getty

"The Tories can't continue to hide from this issue. It is clear that they have questions to answer and we can't afford for the public to lose faith in the political process.

"The Prime Minister should lead by example and come out and set the record straight on his own tax affairs – we need full and total transparency.

"We also need to know the truth behind reports that the Conservative Party has received substantial donations from those linked to this scandal. The Tories should come clean and set out exactly what the situation is – is the Prime Minister happy to receive money from big donors who are accused of tax avoidance?

"Because it is those taxpayers who pay their fair share in taxes who have to shoulder the burden for those who do not. This is a basic principle that any party of government cannot take lightly."

Marine Le Pen aides 'set up sophisticated offshore system'

The claim came as France opened an official investigation into money laundering and tax fraud.

Marine Le PenCredit:
AFP

The newspaper wrote: "A sophisticated offshore system was put in place between Hong Kong, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands and Panama by the close aides of Marine Le Pen."

The aim of the system was "to get money out of France, through shell companies and false invoices, to evade French anti-money-laundering authorities," it added.

Le Pen's National front party refuted any connection with the Panama Papers.

“The National Front is not involved in the Panama Papers affair and will not tolerate scandalous allegations being made on its behalf,” the party said in a statement. “It will not hesitate to pursue legally anyone who engages in this sort of defamation.”

China's Xi Jinping linked to Panama Papers

Information relating to the “Panama Papers” appears to be heavily censored in China, where family members of several of Beijing’s current and former leaders have been implicated, reports Neil Connor, our China Correspondent.

Xi Jinping, the President of China, and two other Politburo Standing Committee members, Zhang Gaoli and Liu Yunshan, have relatives named in the documents, according to the BBC.

Xi Jinping, the President of China, has relatives named in the Panama Papers leak documents, according to the BBCCredit:
Reuters

Setting up overseas companies is not illegal in the Communist country, but President Xi has made fighting official excess and corruption a key policy since he assumed leadership.

By Tuesday afternoon, “Panama Papers” was the most deleted phrase on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, according to monitoring site Freeweibo.

Xi Jinping and David Cameron enjoy a pint together in 2015Credit:
AP

The phrase was also blocked on Baidu, China’s biggest search engine. But there were a handful of Chinese media reports on the papers, including an editorial from the pro-Beijing and fiercely nationalist Global Times which suggested the revelations were part of a ploy by the Western media to discredit foreign adversaries.

“The West will be happy to see such leaks happen if their opponents are attacked,” the newspaper said, without mentioning the allegations towards Chinese leaders.

Senior Tory MP on David Cameron's tax affairs: 'There is a need for transparency'

Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, a former attorney general, said there is a need for transparency among public figures.

Asked if questions over investments are a private matter for the Prime Minister, Mr Grieve told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I understood he said he had no shares in offshore companies so that would appear to answer the question."

Dominic Grieve, the Conservative MP, says it is right to ask for 'transparency' from people like David Cameron on their tax affairsCredit:
Eddie Mulholland/Telegraph

Asked again if it is a private matter, Mr Grieve added: "I think with public figures ultimately we do have a need for transparency.

"It's worth bearing in mind we have a register of interests at Parliament where we're obliged to set out very clearly areas of our financial interest which go way beyond what ordinary members of the public have to do, and I'm entirely comfortable with that."

Jeremy Corbyn, as he launches Labour's local election campaign in England today, has strong words for David Cameron on the Panama Papers:

Jeremy CorbynCredit:
Peter Powell

“It is time to get tough on tax havens. Britain has a huge responsibility. Many of those tax havens are British overseas territories or crown dependencies.

“As the leaked documents show, tax havens have become honey pots of international corruption, tax avoidance and evasion. They are sucking tax revenues out of our own country and many others fuelling inequality and short-changing our public services and our people.

“The Government needs to stop pussyfooting around on tax dodging. There cannot be one set of tax rules for the wealthy elite and another for the rest of us. This unfairness and abuse must stop. No more lip service. The richest must pay their way.”

How Mossack Fonseca worked with companies linked to North Korea

The Panama legal firm at the heart of a massive data leak kept clients who were subject to international sanctions. Mossack Fonseca worked with 33 individuals or companies who, at some point, faced action from the US Treasury, including companies linked to North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association, spoke to BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning:

This is a look into North Korea’s methods of evading national and international sanctions so it can finance its weapons programmes – specifically its nuclear and missile programmes. This is not the only way this offshoring of their financing occurs – there are hundreds of companies in China which have dealing with North Korea, many of them are probably set up in a similar fashion – as front companies for North Korean entities which are doing business overseas and then funneling the money back into North Korea.

Kim Jong-unCredit:
Reuters

On the use of law firms in this process, he added:

It’s critical – North Korea has been sanctioned for almost a decade making it difficult for them to openly engage in trade, financing of entities known to be involved in its nuclear missile programme. So they have to find a law firm not to look carefully enough to see who the directors of the shell companies actually are. This is the kind of operation that responsible governments need to shut down to make it more difficult for North Korea to get financing to continue its illicit nuclear missile programmes.

Asked if the authorities have been too slow to act, he said:

In this case, it’s hard to see whether it was the regulators who were acting too slowly or whether there are too many front companies which makes it hard for the regulator to find the violators.

Will these papers change anything? They should – the problem we see here in this case is the kind of thing we have known for years. The problem is several different governments, including the Chinese are not enforcing the existing sanctions stringently enough and North Korea and other countries like it continue to find ways to evade the system. North Korea has been relatively fast at finding ways around the system.

David Cameron stays silent on family's tax affairs

David Cameron has refused to say whether any of his family's money is still held offshore in a Caribbean tax haven after it emerged that his late father Ian ran an offshore fund which avoided paying tax in Britain by hiring Bahamanian residents, including a bishop, to sign paperwork.

Mr Cameron's family links to an offshore tax shelter have re-emerged just as the Prime Minister prepares to host and chair an anti-corruption summit of charities, non-governmental bodies and world leaders to encourage more tax transparency in London next month.

Ian Cameron's name was in more than 11 million leaked documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca that were passed to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to 107 media organisations including The Guardian and BBC's Panorama.

Ian Cameron is embraced by his son David in 2010

According to the Consortium, Ian Cameron used Mossack Fonseca’s services to shield profits form his investment fund, Blairmore Holdings Inc, with a series of expensive and complicated arrangements.

Ian Cameron, who died in 2010, was a director of Blairmore, an investment fund run from the Bahamas but named after the family’s ancestral home in Aberdeenshire.

The fund reportedly managed tens of millions of pounds for the wealthy, including Isidore Kerman, an adviser to Robert Maxwell who once owned the West End restaurants Scott’s and J Sheekey, and private bank Leopold Joseph.

The fund, which was established in the 1980s and continues today and "has never paid a penny of tax in the UK on its profits" in 30 years, according to The Guardian.

Blairmore Holdings was incorporated in Panama but based in the Bahamas, where the fund retained up to 50 Caribbean officers each year.

"Their job was to sign paperwork and fill roles such as treasurer and secretary. They included the late Solomon Humes, a lay bishop with the non-denominational Church of God of Prophecy. He acted in various roles including vice-president over a number of years from the mid-1990s," The Guardian said.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman declined to comment on whether any of Mr Cameron's family money was still invested in the offshore fund, saying: “That is a private matter."

Asked for any comment on Mr Cameron’s father’s offshore interests, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman referred to comments made in 2012, adding “I don’t have anything to add to that."

A senior No 10 source later said that the Prime Minister does not have any shares.

In 2012, when details of Ian Cameron's offshore interests first emerged, Number 10 said it was a private matter for the Cameron family.

Ian and Mary Cameron pictured in 2010

A spokesman added then: "The Government’s tax reforms are about making sure that some of the richest people in the country pay a decent share of income tax'."

While there is nothing illegal about using offshore companies, the disclosures have intensified calls for international reform of the way tax havens are able to operate and claims of large-scale money laundering.

HM Revenue and Customs in London has approached the journalists behind the leak for access to the data and said it would "act on it swiftly and appropriately" if there was any wrongdoing.

Mr Cameron has been a vocal advocate of reform and legislation forcing British companies to disclose who owns and benefits from their activities which comes into force in June.

Last year he said: "London is not a place to stash your dodgy cash. The challenge I am laying down for every country today is to root out the rot of corruption – to ensure transparency over what your own companies are doing; require transparency for foreign companies in your country too and work with us to spread this approach to transparency around the world."

Despite several years of pressure, few UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories - which are said to make up a large part of the tax havens referred to in the papers - have taken concrete action to open up the books.

Asked if Mr Cameron was prepared to legislate if there was continued inaction, the Prime Minister's official spokesman added: "He rules nothing out. The work with them continues."

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who recently met the Panamanian vice president to discuss the issue, insisted "significant progress" was being made.

"It's always interesting when information like this leaks because it reminds people who are up to no good how fragile and how vulnerable they make themselves by indulging in this kind of activity," he told the BBC. This is a key agenda for the Prime Minister."

Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary

Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell said not enough had been achieved. "Cameron promised and has failed to end tax secrecy and crack down on 'morally unacceptable' offshore schemes," he said. "Real action is now needed."

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, called for an independent investigation, claiming the British Government had "failed to act until forced to by a scandal" over tax havens.

Mr Farron also urged Mr Cameron to show leadership on the issue of tax transparency and publish his personal tax return.

He said: “When asked in 2015 about his tax affairs the Prime Minister said he was ‘very relaxed’ about providing transparency. He should stick to that approach now and be as open as possible about his finances.

“However this issue is about the sunny places that shady things happen and I again call on the Prime Minister to live up to his promises and end the tax avoidance culture of UK territories.”

Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the leak, said it had operated "beyond reproach" for 40 years and had never been charged with criminal wrong-doing.

Tax evasion investigations launched around the world

Several countries have launched tax evasion probes after a massive leak of confidential documents lifted the lid on the murky offshore financial dealings of a slew of politicians and celebrities.

The scandal erupted on Sunday when media groups began revealing the results of a year-long investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in creating offshore shell companies.

In Iceland's capital Reykjavik, thousands took to the streets late on Monday to demand the premier resign over allegations that he and his wife used an offshore firm to hide millions of dollars of investments.

Australia has already launched a probe into 800 wealthy Mossack Fonseca clients. France and the Netherlands also announced investigations, while a judicial source said Spain had opened a money-laundering investigation into the law firm.

Panama also pledged to launch an investigation to identify if any crimes have been committed and any financial damages should be awarded.

President Juan Carlos Varela said Panama would co-operate with the international probes but also vowed to "defend the image of our country", which has a reputation as a hub for under-the-table dealings.

Messi's family was swift to dismiss any suggestion he had been involved in shady dealings, saying "accusations he created a... tax evasion plot, including a network of money-laundering, are false and insulting".

Messi has been charged with tax fraud in a separate case that is due to go to trial in May.

The trove of documents was anonymously leaked to German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with more than 100 media groups by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). More information is expected over the coming weeks.

The first revelations elicited a chorus of denials, including from the Kremlin, which suggested a US plot after the leaks put a close friend of Mr Putin's at the top of an offshore empire worth more than $2 billion.

"Putin, Russia, our country, our stability and the upcoming elections are the main target, specifically to destabilise the situation," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, claiming the journalists were former officers from the US state department, the CIA and special services.

Offshore financial dealings are not illegal in themselves but may be used to hide assets from tax authorities, launder the proceeds of criminal activities or conceal misappropriated or politically inconvenient wealth.

Among other key findings of the probe, which named about 140 political figures, including 12 current or former heads of state:

The families of some of China's top brass - including President Xi - used offshore tax havens to conceal their fortunes, including at least eight current or former members of the ruling Communist Party's most powerful body.

Iceland's prime minister secretly owned millions of dollars in bank bonds at a time when his country's banking system was collapsing in 2008. He has so far steadfastly refused to step down.

A member of Fifa's ethics committee, Juan Pedro Damiani, had business ties with three men indicted in a corruption scandal.

A Panamanian shell company may have helped hide millions of dollars from a $40 million British gold bullion robbery at London-Heathrow Airport in 1983 that is etched in criminal folklore, according to the ICIJ.

Oscar-winning Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar and actor Jackie Chan were among celebrities named in the papers.